Community Infrastructure Fund - Guidance Paper

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Introduction

The Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF), announced in July 2004 as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. It is designed to support the transport infrastructure costs required to enable faster housing development in the four growth areas as announced in the Sustainable Communities Plan. It will complement, not replace mainstream transport spending in the four growth areas.

The CIF will consist of a capital grant allocation of £200m to be made available in the following years: £50m in 06/07 and £150m in 07/08. £34m has already been earmarked for two schemes within the Thames Gateway growth area (the East London and Greenwich Waterfront Transit schemes).

Objective:

The objective of the CIF will be:

" to support transport infrastructure costs to enable faster housing development in the four growth areas (Thames Gateway; Milton-Keynes / South Midlands; London / Stansted / Cambridge/ Peterborough; and Ashford) in 2006/07 and 2007/08. It will complement not replace mainstream transport funding in these areas"

The Government recognises that to be successful the growth agenda must be considered as a long-term objective and needs to be properly co-ordinated with decisions on infrastructure. The CIF will be reviewed in the context of the next spending review alongside the responses to the forthcoming regional guideline budgets and the Government will work with regional partners to determine how best to achieve this.

Scope:

Geographical

The geographical scope of the CIF will be limited to the four existing growth areas (Thames Gateway; Milton-Keynes/South Midlands; London/Stansted/Cambridge/Peterborough; and Ashford). In exceptional circumstances, schemes outside the growth areas but which are related to them will be considered for funding. This will only be the case where the scheme will deliver additional housing in the Growth Area, for example, by supporting sustainable travel between housing in growth areas and job opportunities outside. Any extension of the CIF in geographical scope will be for consideration in future spending reviews.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, the following criteria should be met:

  • Bids for funding should not normally be made in respect of schemes which are currently included in the Highways Agency's Targeted Programme of Improvements or for which full or provisional approval has been given for LTP funding, except to the extent that the bid relates solely to acceleration of the scheme.
  • Bids can be made for either the whole cost of a scheme or for a contribution towards the total cost. Bids are welcome for schemes which attract other sources of funding;
  • Schemes should be ready to spend in the CIF period (2006/07 and 2007/08). They will need to be able to be completed within the SR04 period or have agreed third party funding to cover any costs incurred beyond the CIF period;
  • Bids must be for capital expenditure only. Retrospective contributions towards the preparatory costs incurred in the development of successful major scheme bids will be considered on a case-by-case basis; Ministers would aim to make such a contribution only where preparatory costs would otherwise represent a genuine barrier to scheme development;
  • For schemes with on-going subsidy costs it should be made clear how such costs will be met in future when bids are submitted. Promoters will also be expected to undertake the risk of any unexpected requirement for ongoing subsidy arising;
  • In addition to commitments in relation to ongoing subsidy, bids for rail schemes will need to demonstrate that there will be, at most, a limited detrimental effect on current service patterns;
  • Contributions for successful schemes will be of a fixed amount and will be strictly time-limited;
  • Packages of smaller-scale infrastructure schemes for particular Growth Area localities where development is to be concentrated, and which are not already being funded through the S106 process, are encouraged;
  • CIF bids must be developed in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and sustainable communities. The link to additional housing development for each scheme will need to be established as part of the overall appraisal process (see below). Evidence will be required to demonstrate how schemes unlock additional housing development.

Appraisal

The required level of scheme appraisal should be proportionate to the size of the scheme. Bids will be assessed against DfT's NATA (New Approach to Appraisal) criteria as set out in the Department of Transport's Transport Analysis Guidance website - http://www.webtag.org.uk/ - but additional emphasis will be placed on the "integration" criteria within NATA. This is important given the Fund's objective of delivering additional housing growth and additional guidance on this will be made available. The size and nature of additional housing delivered as a result of the scheme should be assessed. A note on appraisal procedures is attached.

Timetable

The proposed timetable for the bid process is as follows:

November 2004 - guidance published

Nov / Dec 04 - detailed discussions with regional and local partners at official level

January 05 - agreement of shortlist of schemes for further work

April 06 - initial funding made available

Stakeholder Involvement / Bidding Process

Regional Assemblies (Transport for London in London) are asked to submit consolidated and co-ordinated bids as set out below, which have the agreement of relevant local transport authorities, local delivery vehicles and other agencies such as the Highways Agency and Strategic Rail Authority. The bids will need to demonstrate the commitment of the scheme promoters and any other delivery agencies and to explain how the bid fits with those bodies' other plans. Subsequent discussions on detailed appraisal issues will be undertaken with the specific scheme promoter who will be taking the scheme forward.

Regional bodies should indicate priorities within the bid, so that these can be taken into account in determining allocations. Government reserves the right to reprioritise where that would better meet the aims of the fund.

The following bodies are invited to take the lead in drawing together bids for each growth area:

- for Milton Keynes/South Midlands - EERA, SEERA and EMRA

- for LSCP (except London) - EERA

- for London regions of Thames Gateway and LSCP - Transport for London

- for Thames Gateway South Essex - EERA

- for Thames Gateway Kent - SEERA

- for Ashford - SEERA

Evaluation

It will be important to put in place from the outset plans to evaluate the outcomes as well as the operation of the scheme(s) which will need to be related both to ODPM plans for evaluation of the broader growth area policy and to the more specific link of the individual scheme to delivery of housing.